Family Matters

August 28, 2011

The best thing about the Internet in the eyes of some is its anonymity.

Folks can go to a website, register a screen name and start picking.

The pickers can be prickly.

They can be acerbic.

They can be ridiculously judgmental.

They can be so wrong at times, so grossly unfair, so caustic.

Much of the reaction in Internet places to John Lowery Jr.'s resignation earlier this month as baseball coach at Martinsburg has been unkind for the most part.

Here's what he said when we learned that he was giving up the position: "Ultimately, I didn't want to coach against my father anymore. That was the main reason. But I'll also be able to spend a little more time with my children and should be able to watch them play a little more. It was definitely a family decision."

Evidently there is something wrong with concern about kin, here in West Virginia?

His father, of course, is legendary Jefferson coach John Lowery, a man who belongs to so many halls of fame, he can't fit all of them on his hand in a baseball glove.

For almost a decade, they have led their teams against each other and then tried to be civil at a family picnic a few days later.

You try it.

The younger Lowery has struggled with having to play against his father, Junior has allowed many times, going all the way back to the first games of his seven-year run leading the Bulldogs.

Dad has said the same thing, too.

It's really amazing the pair lasted as long as they did at the two intense school rivals.

How many others could have done it?

Junior tried to give up the post a few seasons ago but was pursuaded into giving it another go, which he did.

High school baseball, especially in these parts of West Virginia, is much different than a family game of bocce, where father and son might want to beat the tar off the other, good-naturedly, of course.

The baseball games are far more encompassing, involve lots more people than a game of backyard escapades, and both Jefferson and Martinsburg rank among the best Class AAA teams on the baseball diamond over the years.

Still, the motives and loyalty of John Jr. have been questioned by some Internet posters.

Some say he's angling for his father's job when the elder Lowery decides to retire. Others want to cite the number of graduates from this past season's squad.

Few seem to want to agree with his line of reasoning.

And that's the real travesty.

If family wasn't important to Junior, why did he come home in the first place?

He had a fairly cushy job as a pitching coach at the University of Michigan, after he had spent a handful of years mentoring the throwers at Miami of Ohio.

College is surely beyond high school,where teaching also comes with the extracurricular sports.

At the time of his return home, Lowery Jr., who briefly played in the lower levels of professional baseball, talked about wanting to come back to this area for the sake of his children, himself and his wife, who hails from Winchester.

That's to be faulted?

He talked then about family, and he talks about it again.

Coaching high school is like the Internet in some sense.

The anonymity of the Internet is not a whole lot different than coaching: Those in the business spent so much time with everybody else's children, they often miss their own, becoming some indiscernable screen name to their offspring.

It's wrong to want to enjoy your own?

And it's not like the younger Lowery didn't give his all to the progarm at Martinsburg.

"I don't think people of Martinsburg can feel shortchanged for what he did for their team," the older Lowery said.

Three seasons ago, the Bulldogs won a state title and this past season, Martinsburg set a school record for number of wins, a pair of them coming during the regular season over Jefferson, which got the one that counted in regional play and went on to win the state championship.

When the elder Lowery retires from coaching, there is no more logical choice to take over than Junior.

It would lessen the burden on someone else in replacing one of the nation's all-time winningest high school baseball coaches.

It would be completing the circle, too, as John Jr. won state player of the year honors and a state championship during his senior year at Jefferson.

Jefferson is his alma mater and he is now teaching there.

"Even if he wanted to, what would be wrong with that?" Lowery Sr. asked.

Absolutely nothing.

People change jobs all the time.

Way back in time, Martinsburg's ultra-successful basketball coach Dave Rogers came home to his alma mater to coach the Bulldogs, the elder Lowery pointed out.

John Sr. has heard talk over the years.

"People had me quitting when my son's were all done playing," he said.

He had three sons who all played for him at Jefferson.

"People had me quitting when I got to 1,000 wins," Lowery Sr. said. "People had me quitting when the school split."

Lowery Sr. has continued to coach after winning his 1,000th career game, and he has continued to coach after Washington came into existence.

He'll be coaching Jefferson, Lord willing, next spring.

Just to allay the fears of those in Bulldog black and orange that the younger John Lowery will be outfitted in maroon and gold next spring, the elder Lowery said, "I'll be coaching Jefferson next year, but I won't be managing the Winchester Royals next summer."

Then he added, "And John is not coaching any place next season."

And so what if he saddles up next to his father next season?

It would just be more Internet fodder.

More so, though, it would be more a love between father and son, not a situation that would make them arch enemies - as the coaches of the Bulldogs and Cougars.